SGI: hinv

2x600MHz R14000, V12, 8 gig RAM, Dual Channel Display, DMediaPro 2, VBOB with a DMediaPro 5, skins are near mint. I guess you could say it's not really maxed out since it doesn't have a dual-V12. Anyone got one for sale, cheap?

hinv -mv:



gfxinfo -vv:



side/rear view and front view:

Still, that's pretty awesomesauce!

That is one beautiful machine!
Any idea where I can get my hands on one of those dual 600MHz R14k cpu modules for less than $250 (preferably cheaper :S) ?
My octane has 4G ram, V12, but a measly single 400MHz cpu, it neeeeeds it!

Congrats - that's a very nice Octane2! For what it's worth, if you put issues of relative rarity aside I tend to think of Octane2's with video hardware/the DM2 as a better example of maxed out than one with a dual V12.



Looks like you got the issues you experienced with your DCD and VBoB sorted out. Any potential words of wisdom or closure for those threads (for others who might find themselves in similar situations)?

Ha ha I wish but no I did not! Something I don't get is why does it say Monitor 1 type: Unknown Monitor 2 type: Unknown when, in fact, the DCD is not hooked up to monitors it is hooked up the the DM5? I guess the DM5 people weren't talking to the gfxinfo people. And, if you look carefully there's another monitor unknown where the DM5 is supposed to be transferring all the information coming from the two DCD outputs to a single monitor, and there it also says Monitor Type: unknown - That's my Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" monitor. What's weird is that at times it actually will say Monitor Type: Dell, but it's never actually output anything to the screen, it's always been blank. Haven't given up yet though still hoping for the silver bullet solution...

I have seen some in-cable edid cheaters. You could probably program one to return "Silicon Graphics DM5" if you liked

Yeah I'm starting to think the only way I"m ever going to get this to work is to program it myself, one pixel at a time...

And for future reference, you do not have to disconnect the monitor that's attached to the V12's 13W3 output when you switch to a "2@" DCD mode, even though the manual says you should. SGI was just trying to avoid lame support questions from people who were complaining that their 13W3 monitor was "all flickery" when the DCD was active. It doesn't hurt anything to leave it hooked up, I've had mine like that for over a year, and leaving it connected makes switching back and forth between DCD and 13W3 mode a lot less work since you don't have to disconnect and reconnect the 13W3 every time. And yes, when the DCD mode is active the monitor on the 13W3 is indeed "all flickery" because it doesn't understand, as the DCD does, that the V12 is cycling between the left monitor and right monitor very rapidly. The DCD distributes those signals properly the 13W3 just displays them both, hence the flicker.

Since the DM5 converts your graphics signal to SD or HD video, I'd be at least a little surprised if the DDC info supplied by your monitor got passed back through the VBoB/DM5 to the V12/DCD in your Octane. Do you also get 'unknown monitor' if you connect the monitor directly to either the 13W3 on the V12 or one of the DVI ports on the DCD? I can appreciate wanting to operate your Octane in the maxed out configuration, but if it works with your monitor(s) directly connected to the DCD, you might want to reserve the VBoB/DM5 connection for video editing sessions.

If you still get 'unknown monitor' when connected directly to the DCD (ditto for the 13W3, but you'll want to make sure the analog cable or adapter you're using is wired to provide DDC info), then you might consider adding your specific monitor to the moninfo file. See the man page for moninfo for additional detail; here's the intro (don't be put off by the mention of "CRT monitors", the moninfo file that came with IRIX 6.5.30 includes a number of LCD monitors): I suggested the same thing to someone else who was apparently had incomplete DDC info - xsetmon wouldn't offer *any* 2@ formats for his DCD-equipped V12 until he added his monitors to monifo.

Doesn't seem like it'd be real eye-friendly, but that seems to be exactly what SGI/Discreet intended for the V12/DCD/VBoB/DM5.

Well, I have looked into the moninfo issue but in my case I can change back and forth between regular and 2@ modes at will, it's just that when I'm in 2@ mode I have to do everything through ssh because all this megabuck DCD/DM2/DM5 hardware refuses to talk to my Dell!

I'm convinced that cabling roadmap is a typo where it shows the 13W3 still being attached and usable. The V12 just doesn't have the smarts to get the 13W3 to straighten up and fly right when there's a DCD piggybacking on it and smacking it from left-to-right monitor outputs at a high rate of speed...

Got that part, which is why I asked if you tried connecting the monitor directly to the V12 or DCD.

You didn't mention what your expectations were for your megabuck DCD/DM2/DM5 hardware, but *if* those expectations include the ability to use a 2@ format to display IRIX (your desktop) on a monitor connected through the DM5, you'll probably gonna be disappointed. The DM5 was added to the VBob to give the V12 a Graphics-to-Video (GVO) option, similar in function/intent to the DG5-GVO option for IR graphics. Both were primarily intended to provide a mechanism to preview effects or other edits applied to the video stream, not as a method to display/access/control a multi-screen Desktop. The Silicon Graphics DMediaPro DM5 Graphics-to-Video-Out User's Guide mentions:


Don't think that diagram is in error - the same set up is listed in the several Discreet manuals, here's another quote from Discreet, this one is from "Setting Up Video (Chapter 7) of the Smoke 6.5 Manual , : ...and pretty much the same thing from a completely different Discreet manual ( "Effects Editing 2007: Hardware Setup Guide for SGI Tezro and Octane2" ), That same manual goes on to mention that in systems with (HD) output routed through a DM5, the monitor must be set at 1920x1154 The very same issue you're experiencing with your DCD and DM5 have come up before, and as it turns out, the Discreet method of connecting the monitor directly to the 13W3 and setting the resolution to 1920x1154 worked - though it's worth noting that the Dell monitor originally used by the OP in that thread *wouldn't* support 1920x1154 - he had to switch monitors. BTW - his Dell monitor *did* work without issue(at 1920x1200) if he skipped the DM5 and connected directly to one of the DVI ports on the DCD, which is why I mentioned: In any case, here's a link to that thread - start here and read down a few posts: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17253&p=7286590&#p7286590

If you connect a monitor to the original 13w3 connector with a DCD also attached, the 13w3 will work correctly (not that jittery thing) if its monitor is set at 1920x1154 ? Or did I misunderstand that ?

That is quite strange.

I think what you might have misunderstood is the Discreet set up for the DCD-DM5 doesn't use a 2@ display format . The 13W3 will only undergo a left-to-right smackdown *if* you load one of the 2@ DCD formats, and the Discreet setups don't use 2@ formats. Take a close look at the setmon command Discreet recommends (it's quoted a few posts back) and you'll notice the format recommended for an Octane2 with a DM5 *isn't prefaced with 2@ ( /usr/gfx/setmon -x 1920x1154_60 was the command Discreet recommended to correctly configure an Octane2 equipped with a DCD and DM5.

To recap; In the Discreet set up there's a single connection between the DM5 and the *right* DCD port; the graphics monitor is connected to the 13W3; and both are fed a not-intended-for-a-DCD 1920x1154_60 (unsplit) display format. So the half-field display flickers the 13W3 port would normally get with 2@ formats *isn't* an issue.

What I was trying to point out was the OP in that post, Bodao, followed up to say that setting the resolution to 1920x1154 (and connecting a monitor that could live with that res) resolved his issues with the DCD/DM5, and that the connection method/resolution used by Badao sounds to be pretty much the same as what Discreet recommended.

BTW, the other read-between-the-lines bit of potential enlightenment in Bodao's post was his mention that the DM5 was connected to his Octane2 using *only* the right side port on the DCD . Using just the right port on the DCD to connect the DM5 is the method shown in the 'questioned' connection diagram from the Discreet manual - the very diagram that shows the graphics monitor connected to the planar graphics out port on the V12 (instead of one of the ports on the DCD).

All of the Discreet manuals (for SGI gear using the DM5) mention *not* to connect the DM5 in the method shown by the DMediaPro DM5 Graphics-to-Video-Out User's Guide on TechPubs. Since the connect-both-DCD-ports-and-graphics-monitor-to-the-DM5 method in the TechPubs manual doesn't seem to be working for vishnu, it might be worth the effort to explore the Discreet graphics-monitor-connected-to-the13w3-port method.

Here's the TechPubs DCD-DM5-monitor connection diagram: and the one provided by Discreet: Outside of TechPubs I couldn't find a single application or reference to using the DCD-DM5-monitor connections shown in the SGI diagram. In contrast, I wouldn't be surprised to find that a large percentage of the DM5-equipped systems sold by SGI were probably purchased to run one of the Discreet applications.

If you'd like to try the Discreet method, I've quoted it here (from page 29 of the Discreet Effects Editing 2007; Hardware Setup Guide for the SGI Octane2 and Tezro -the setmon command is on page 11):

So basically, you're saying that this image is the typo?



Because the high definition video out of the VBOB is one of the BNC cables, I just assumed that hooking up the monitor as shown there would give me my ordinary IRIX desktop...

I won't go as far as to say the TechPubs connection diagram can't be made to work...... but I think you'd have to do some custom coding to get there.

All of the OpenML-based SGI video gear I've experienced doesn't seem to have been intended as a turn-key hardware-software solution. Instead it would appear SGI's philosophy was to provide the hardware, necessary hooks for the IRIX kernel, and the basic info/tools for the purchaser to program their own custom OpenML application (or alternatively use a third-party app like the Discreet stuff).

So AFAIC, the reason you (and everyone else who's posted about it on nekochan) can't get the DM5 connection scheme on TechPubs to work is you probably don't have all the necessary software to enable a fully-end-user-functional video editing set up. Which is pretty much the same boat the DM6, DM10 and HD-GVO/TVO are in.

If you have the optional DM2/DM3 Development Environment installed, you can take a look at/play with some of the example code snippets SGI provided with the xtdigvid (DM2/DM3) software package.... ...but I'd guess there was a reason why Discreet choose to fore go the the TechPubs example and go another direction.

On the other hand you could install one of the Discreet apps and take advantage of the proven coding they've provided.

Even without the addition of Discreet software, if you connect your gear using their method, you should be able to get your *graphics* monitor working without having to backdoor yourself via ssh. You might be able to get a display on a *video* monitor too - but you'll probably have to play around with dmconf to see if you can find a combined graphics/video format that works - though your graphics monitor will have to be willing to will play nice with 1920x1154_60.

If were me (it ain't, and I realize I don't get a vote), I'd disconnect DM5 and connect the monitor to one of the DVI ports. Then any time you've got the hankerin' to go skywalker ranch with your Octane2 all you'd have to do is swap a couple of cables.

I call false advertising on SGI!

And for the record, using my Octane from my Linux box through ssh (or telnet) is woefully inadequate, since my Linux xserver lacks the XSGI extension and thus can't open any IRIX/Indigo Magic apps. So here's an off topic question in my own thread, does anyone know where the XSGI xserver extension source code is? Because then I could compile it into my Linux xserver, and I'd be winning, and things would suck less and that would be good.

You could do it the other way ... X into your Linux computer from the Octane

Don't forget to re-enable the network functionality of the X server while you're in there. Seems to be removed/disabled from most Linux distros I run across. (Or I failed the "You must be at least this tall to go on this ride" test...)

Yes but the problem is that I have no IRIX monitor when I'm using the 2@ mode with my multi-megabucks DMediaPro hardware!


Um, what's the magic incantation for doing that now? Doubtless yet another of the many reasons why Unix Must Die.

I'm going to give that discussion a very wide berth... Certainly not something to address in your hinv thread.

I'd probably wind up looking at Gentoo - at least there you know they've planned for the average user to build from source... Then you've just got to see if the networking was disabled and reverse the settings.

I'm not sure if a *BSD desktop would have the X network bits enabled or not. I reverted from PC-BSD to Fedora due to dire KVM issues, but it mght be worth a look. Other than losing all USB peripherals whenever I switched the KVM ( ), I was very happy with PC-BSD. Maybe next release...